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The Folding Halls of Halas
is an extra-dimensional manor with about one hundred interconnected rooms, created by the archmage Halas in the Age of Arcanum. Halas created a special key called the Heirloom Sphere whose ever-changing clockwork puzzles serve as the key to entering the Halls. The time inside of the Halls is different than on the Material Plane. Approximately one day passes in the Material Plane for each hour spent in the Halls, although the various chambers may not be consistent. 'Interior' The rooms in the dungeon are connected by passageways with an extraplanar essence, functioning like mini teleportation circles. The Halls are protected by Golems. A blue dragon guarded one exit of the manor in exchange for food. Other dangerous creatures exist within the manor as well. Tapestry Entrance This entrance is a stone room with four pillars. Twelve feet off the ground are four different colored banners (red, green, blue, and black) hanging on the walls parallel to each other. All the banners have the symbol of Halas in gold in the center. * The blue banner hides a stone dragon statue with sapphires for eyes. When the banner is moved the statue emits a blue electrical energy. * The green banner hides a statue of a sickly, bloated humanoid creature. When the banner is moved a green poisonous gas fills the chamber. * The red banner hides a red wooden door with the symbol of Halas painted on it. When the lock is picked, a magical flame bursts out and the door can be opened. This door leads to the Study. * The black banner presumably hides a statue linked to the "wailing creature". It is also the passageway to the Dining Room. Diamond Entrance This entrance is a diamond-shaped chamber. On the ceiling is a relief sculpture of a curving tower encircling a humanoid figure without a face. There are two archways: one silver and one gold. The gold arch smells of earth and greenery and leads to the Garden. The Study The Study is a seventy-foot tall chamber full of books, desks, and cabinets. One cabinet was actually a mimic and animated when touched. Above one of the desks is a twelve-foot tall, six-foot wide picture of Halas sitting in a chair. In the desk was a jar of glass beads, a large vial of ink, and a small porcelain doll with oddly realistic hair. One of the walls has a forty-foot tall, fifty-foot wide stained glass window up one level of ladders. The stained glass window has a layout of the planes: the Ethereal Plane, Astral Plane, and four Elemental Planes are all pictured. There is no Divine Gate shown on the window , indicating this design may be over 800 years old and pre-Calamity. It has a small, red circle within the Astral Plane that is not tethered to anything. By touching the red circle, a person is transported to the Dragon Guard Exit. Dragon Guard Exit This chamber is an arrow-shaped chamber with dark hallways. The chamber is filled with gold, gems, bone fragments, a pedestal, and in the middle a circular stone raised platform. The platform functions as the entrance to the chamber from The Study. The pedestal is in shadow with an orb set onto it. At the end of both hallways is a green-blue crystal set in an alcove that absorbs cold energy. Across the floor are grooves that feed the energy from the crystals to the pedestal. The Garden The Garden is a lush tropical jungle with a waterfall pouring down a massive mountainside cliff cascading into a small murky pool. There are multiple creatures living in the garden: soft little motes of dancing Scribe Mites that are attracted towards magic for food, bullywugs, and a froghemoth. In this room are multiple pathways to other rooms: one within the pool leading to The Nest, one in a tree leading to the Crystal Mines, one on top of the cliff leading to the Tower Machine, and behind the waterfall there is a slight opening where a red-painted doorway stands that leads to The Study. Tower Machine The Tower is an immense curving clockwork tower in the middle of an endless expanse of nothingness with a walkway spiraling up and down its length. Flashes of purple lightning illuminate the area. At intervals, gears protrude from the tower onto the walkway, blocking it. The Nein entered from The Garden and saw doorways both above and below them. Arcane Armory A long rectangular hallway lined with pillars and lit by ever-burning green torches, the Arcane Armory only has one known exit into an island orbiting the Tower Machine. Midway across the large room is a trapped area which triggers two magical ballistae at the end of the hall that seemed similar to the strange structure Nott noticed in Gelidon's lair. The ballistae are continuously fed massive amounts of arcane energy, allowing them to shoot seemingly infinite elemental-based projectiles at the touch of a button. Behind the ballistae are multiple crates and several magical items. Golem Workshop Experiment Chamber The Experiment Chamber is a dark and damp chamber containing broken glass tanks and rotting corpses, in which Halas apparently conducted experiments to create the perfect clone harnessing the regenerative powers of the Perma-Heart. Heart Study Perma-Heart The Perma-Heart is a low-lit triangular room made of dark red stone that "glistens with moisture and smells strongly of iron," where Halas sealed away the Perma-Heart within a container lined with arcane glyphs. This room can only be reached through the Heart Study. ' The Dreadnought' Gravity holds no sway here. In every direction is a sea of swirling mists of atmospheric winds, soft grays and bright dots of a distant night sky. Numerous platinum chains restrain an Astral Dreadnought. This Dreadnought has a thick platinum plate covering where it’s eye is located. All limbs of this terrifying, behemoth creature are bound by chains and tethered to a blue rock. ''' '''Not yet explored * Prison of Soot (location of Yussa Errenis) * The Bedroom * Dining Hall * Carving Farm * Guest Chambers * Crystal Mines * Fleshmend Facility * The Nest * Circlebound Chamber * (±75 - unnamed rooms) History The Mighty Nein and Twiggy arrived in the Tapestry Entrance and realized Yasha was not with them. There were two mummified corpses which Caduceus spoke with, learning that they were killed by "the wailing creature" that came from behind the black banner. They pulled the blue and green banners aside, avoiding the green gas by sheltering within Leomund's Tiny Hut. They then pulled aside the red banner, revealing the door. They successfully picked the lock and avoided the flame. Caleb sent Frumpkin into the hallway and the party followed, arriving in The Study. There, the party inspected the portrait above one of the desks, and noticed the red circle on the stained glass window. Fjord touched it and the window loudly shattered, sucking him into a black void and causing him to vanish from the others. The window reformed and closed behind him. Beau and Jester ran up to the window to follow Fjord and noticed a fingerprint on the red dot. Nott and Twiggy checked The Study for information, and were attacked by a mimic disguised as a cabinet. Nott finished it off with one of her “Explosive” arrows. They then continued the search, and found: * A jar of glass beads, a large vial of ink, and a small porcelain doll with oddly realistic hair * A large red leather-bound book with sapphires embedded in the cover * A book titled: Public Debate Records: Forum of Ziedel * A book with a burn mark on the front where a title should be. Before anyone could investigate further, Beau touched the red circle and disappeared with Jester. Twiggy and Caduceus followed them, leaving Caleb and Nott alone in the library. Nott and Caleb continued to look for books, getting two more before they joined the others. Arriving at the exit, Fjord found himself facing a young blue dragon, and attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate with it. When Beau and Jester came in, Beau summoned a fire elemental to attack the dragon by smashing her red elemental gem. Caduceus and Twiggy fell from the ceiling shortly thereafter. Fjord and Beau found the two green-blue crystals down each of the hallways. Beau noticed the groove running on the floor. When Jester cast Hellish Rebuke, the cold energy shot to one of the crystals, and energy from the crystal then ran through the groove in the floor towards the center room pedestal. Fjord cast Armor of Agathys on himself to smash his head so that the other crystal could absorb the cold energy in the same way. Energy running through two grooves in the floor led to another orb in the pedestal. Beau ran to pedestal orb, reached out, and vanished. The fight continued and when Caleb and Nott finally dropped into the chaos, they saw an angry dragon on fire, the fire elemental, and a four-foot tall Halas (Twiggy using the Disguise Self spell). One after the other, Caduceus, Fjord, Caleb, Nott and Jester ran to the sphere and vanished, leaving Twiggy alone. Twiggy then popped out of hiding and shot the dragon in the heart, killing it. She then ran to the sphere, touched it, and vanished, finding herself with the others back on the Mistake. ' ' Entering The Folding Halls of Halas again to look for Yussa Errenis, the Mighty Nein find themselves in the diamond entrance. Beau smells earth and greenery from the gold arch and they decide to go through it towards The Garden. Upon entering, Beau recognizes the Scribe Mites which attack magic casters. They notice a slight opening behind the waterfall, but begin to hear frogs croaking. Using her Ring of Water Walking, Nott dashes across the pool toward the waterfall and is swallowed by a giant froghemeth rising from the depths of the pool. Caleb casts Fireball, hitting the frog creature and several bullywugs. His use of magic also draws the scribe mites to lightning attack him. In the fight Caduceus also got swallowed, and Caleb cast his new spell, Widogast's Web of Fire. Jester finishes the frog creature scaring the frog-men away. The party discovers all the doorways in this room. While they search, Caleb sends Frumpkin through to The Study and discovers that the books it once held are gone. The party rests on the top of the cliff and uses the mirror to contact Allura Vysoren. She warns them that if there's a Golem Workshop within the Folding Halls, there are also probably roaming golems. They hear heavy approaching footsteps as a metal golem (resembling the figure on the ceiling in the first room) approaches, and quickly dive through the archway. They find themselves standing in the Tower Machine. ' ' ' ' References Art: Category:Planes of Existence